


Heart Beats in Rythm to It's Own

by CaptainLoris



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Dream is just growing in streaming, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, George is a very small streamer, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, I just wanted to be sad :(, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, Sapnap is amazing, Slow Burn, Songfic, based off the song Torch by M. Ward, dreamnotfound, future meetings, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28234161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLoris/pseuds/CaptainLoris
Summary: Dream has just started gaining a following from streaming. The pressure can sometimes get to him, though, causing the need to cool off. One of his favourite things that helped was talking with one of his friends. But it was an abnormal friendship, and it soon turned into something very confusing.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Rooftops

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that this is more than the summary, I just suck at writing them so please continue reading. I have an entire plot planned out for this and I'm very excited to start writing something again :)

Dream closed his eyes as he sat down at the edge of the roof to his apartment building. It was peaceful up there, a place where he could escape from reality as a whole. The cool night’s breeze of winter in Florida blew his hair back as he stared over the streets below him. He watched as people on sidewalks hurried by each other without thought of who they were passing by, and took notice of a small group of cars traveling in a group, with loud music pouring out of the open windows. 

Thanksgiving had just passed, and to say he was grateful was an understatement. He enjoyed spending that time with family and eating food, but the noise seeping through the thin walls of his apartment complex while people had their families and friends over up to a week before the holiday pissed him off to no end. He knew they were all having fun like he and his family do every year, but the constant noise made him grow anxious. Especially this year as he was starting up his career as a streamer.

He hated the way the loud noises would interrupt his streams, and he even feared that maybe his neighbours have heard him screaming incoherent nothing’s at his computer during a game of bed wars. Because of this, he found himself going up to the top of the building after every stream to take a breather and get himself calmed down. Every time he came up here, he drifted into such deep thought, one would think he was asleep. Sometime’s, he actually did fall asleep and scare himself when he woke up in the morning to a warm sun shining on him in an unfamiliar place. But that fear always turned into comfort when he realized where he was.

A familiar voice made him jump out of his trance and look behind him. A short, British brunette stared at him with a warm smile, walking over and sitting next to him, brushing a hand over his back to steady himself as he pulled his legs over the edge of the building.

“Stressful stream today?” The Brit asked as he stared over at the group of very loud cars that still hadn’t moved from the traffic light. Dream shrugged his shoulders in response. The brunette chuckled. “You know, you can answer me, I don’t bite.”

Dream slowly shifted his gaze from the drama happening below to the familiar face of his rooftop companion. He honestly didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to get sucked into another night of false conversations of nothing. He knew his companion wasn’t really there, just another figment of his imagination trying to destress from a long day of doing nothing but talking and editing. Every time he came up here, the brunette appeared, and showed him a form of close he had never felt before. The boy would always find ways to calm him down, and they’d always laugh together and mess with each other. It felt normal. Except it wasn’t. Because the Brit wasn’t real.

Dream finally complies with the hopeful gaze his friend was giving him. “Actually, no. I feel like I accomplished something today.” he smiled with pride and continued, “I reached my sub-goal and honestly had the time of my life. The amount of support I’m getting is crazy, I’m honestly so thankful for how far I’ve come throughout this past year. I’m genuinely happy.” His smile was even bigger now thinking about it. He had grown a pretty credible fanbase from his Minecraft videos and he couldn’t wait to continue. The brunette looked confused, though, making Dream furrow his brows slightly in question.

“If you’re so content, then why are you up here?” Dream shifted his gaze back to the streets where the cars had finally left. He didn’t know why. He guessed it must be a habit to come up after streams because he wasn’t used to talking for that long, but today he felt fine. He had no reason to cool off, his apartment was cozy and quiet for once because everyone was cooling down after their busy holidays to get prepared for Christmas. It was louder and colder out here than it was in there, so why was he here? “I’m sorry..” the Brit interrupted his thoughts, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortab-”

“No, no. It’s fine. I guess I didn’t really have a reason tonight. I think..” he thought about it for a second more. “I think I just wanted to see you again. To tell you what happened.” His companion smiled at his response and nodded.

“I’m glad you did.”

Dream’s heart began beating faster at the sound of his friend’s supportive words, feeling a wave of heat splash over him and covering up the crisp Florida air that he was originally engulfed in. He hated the fact that someone who didn’t exist made him feel this way. He hated how he didn’t even know his rooftop buddy’s name. But the rush of normality that came with talking to him made it almost addictive to continue conversations with him.

“You know..” Dream started. “You’ve never told me your name.”

“I think it’s time you get back inside. It’s getting late.” The brunette responded. Dream tilted his head in confusion as to why his friend, hell, a figment of his own imagination would avoid his question. “Be careful.” He spoke again, standing up and moving off the edge of the building. “I don’t want you to fall.”

Dream watched as his companion disappeared into the shadows of the roof, completely struck with confusion. This was his mind, why couldn’t he come up with a name for him himself? Why was his brain absolutely refusing to come up with any answers as to who this boy was and what significance he had in his life? The sounds of sirens danced in the background as he was lost in thought once again, staring at where the Brit had disappeared.

His friend had been appearing since his first thousand followers. At first, this freaked him out, but he got used to the small British man, and eventually got comfortable enough to open up to him. He only recently figured out he was fake when he watched him jump from the rooftop and vanish into the streets of Orlando. The sheer panic he felt at that moment was enough to kill a man, and when he heard the British accent come from behind him moments later, he nearly fell off the building himself. It felt like they had started from scratch after that. Dream having to cope with the fact that the person he had been talking to for months was nothing made him feel terribly lonely. But, it all washed away when he found himself and his friend laughing at some crazy women’s outfit down below. Oh, how he wished that he was real.

Cool droplets of rain had been splashing against Dream for minutes now without him realizing it. It took his hair flopping down in front of his eyes and distracting him from the spot his friend was to pull him back to reality.

“Oh shit..” he whispered to himself as he checked the time on his phone. He could’ve sworn that he had only been up there for maybe thirty minutes, but the time told him otherwise. He rushed over to the door to the steps leading up to the rooftop in a hurry, hoping to at least be able to get a couple of hours of sleep before he had to wake up at seven the next morning to do a planned stream with his friend Sapnap.

Pulling his hood over his head to stop his hair from getting even wetter and pulling open the door, he took one last second to look over at where he and his imagination sat before running down the stairs to his warm apartment.


	2. George

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream finds out about a small streamer

“So let me get this straight,” Sapnap chuckled through Dream’s headphones. “You stayed up that late on your roof again? Dude, you’ve gotta get a life.” Dream chuckled in response, shaking his head as he listened to his friend laugh at his own joke.

“I mean, at least I wasn’t staying up alone, unlike somebody I know.” Dream shot back, quickly clicking away at his mouse, trying to defend himself from an oncoming zombie. He had decided to put his coding skills to use for this stream, making it so every time that a player broke a block, a random mob would appear. This proceeded to be a nearly impossible challenge as the two tried to beat the game without rage quitting.

“Oh?” Sapnap mocked. “You weren’t alone on your roof last night? I see, Dream! Chat, we’ve got a taken man on our hands!” Dream could practically hear Sapnap wiggling his eyebrows through the screen. “Does this mean a girlfriend reveal or is that gonna be after the face reveal?”

He didn’t mean to indirectly mention his encounter with his British illusion, but he couldn’t help it. He had been hung up on the question all night, barely getting a wink of sleep- who was this strange man that he so openly trusted? Dream had never told Sapnap about his friend, too scared that he may be poked fun at to no end afterward, even though deep down he knew that he would never do that to him. But, there he sat, trying to come up with a stupid excuse so he doesn’t humiliate himself in front of his friend and thousands of viewers.

“No no no nono.” Dream quickly shot out after realizing that he had zoned out for a second at the thought of the Brit. “I just.. I just fell asleep again. I had a dream about some British guy telling me I did a good job on my subscriber goal and whatnot. Probably just my brain’s way of setting the big news in, ya know?” He added a laugh at the end to make it more believable, though, he himself was also believing his “lie”. It made sense. In fact, Dream wouldn’t be surprised if he had fallen asleep all of those times. Hell, maybe he never even went up to his rooftop in the first place, maybe it was all some crazy dream that his brain used as a coping mechanism of sorts.

“Was he hot?”

Dream let out an ungodly wheeze at his friend’s words. His laughing lasted for mere seconds before pushing out a small ‘what’ in response. “No I mean like, hear me out okay?” Sapnap responded, wiping his eyes clear of tears after breaking down from the way his close friend wheezed. “You say you’re dreaming about a British man telling you that you’re doing good? Asking if he’s hot is a valid question, man. I don’t know about you but it sounds like boyfriend material to me.”

“Sapnap, what the hell?” Dream said between even more wheezes. He glanced over at chat to try and regain his composure. Needless to say, they were going crazy. Keysmashes and questions grazed across the screen. He was even able to point out a few things that the dream meant, most being kind of depressing, but he didn’t think anything of it and focused back on what Sapnap was saying.

“Actually, speaking of British men, have you ever heard of GeorgeNotFound?” Sapnap asked.

“Who?”

“He’s a pretty small streamer on here but he’s fucking good, bro. He even codes like you. You should check out his content if you’re truly that into British men.” Dream could tell Sapnap was joking around at the end, but this George guy did pique his interest.

“What kind of stuff does he do?” Dream asked, running from a hoard of various mobs and screaming at his friend to help fend them off.

Sapnap obliged his friend’s request for help and continued. “Loads of different things, but he mainly focuses on Minecraft.” Sapnap yelped as his ax broke and started running in the opposite direction of the mobs, leaving Dream to fend for himself once again. He received a small curse out in response to this. “You know, he does a lot of the same coding stuff for Minecraft as you do, stuff similar to this. Making everything more challenging as he tries to beat the game.” Sapnap continued, “But obviously way more creative and cool. He deserves way more views than you, dude.” Dream rolled his eyes.

“I’ll definitely have to check him out just to prove you wro- SHIT SHIT SHIT! Sapnap! Jesus, get over here, man! I’m at one heart!” Dream exclaimed in panic as he tried towering up out of the ravine he was in, only to be knocked back down by a phantom that had been after him the entire game. He slammed his hands against his desk in fake rage and stared at the message displayed on the screen mocking him of his own known failure. “You know, you were right there and you just watched me die.” He shook his head and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “I’m disappointed in you, Sapnap.”

“I literally had nothing, Dream! What do you expect me to do, sacrifice myself for you? There’s no way in hell that’d happen!” Sapnap teased back.

Dream laughed at his friend’s quick remark, looking over at chat once more to see their reactions to his death and deciding that it was time that he ended the stream. “Whelp,” he exclaimed. “I guess that this is gonna be it for today. I really appreciate everyone here for watching, but I’ve gotta go check out this George dude Sapnap is obsessing over.” Dream chuckled at a small ‘hey!’ that he got out of his friend. “Thank you guys so much for sticking around! Bye! Love ya!” And with that, he hit the end stream button he had been hovering over for the last couple of minutes, letting out a small sigh in relief.

“Damn, dude! That was a hella good stream! I think you broke your viewing record!” Sapnap exclaimed with excitement.

Dream cocked his head to the side. ‘Wait really?” He quickly went over to his stream overview and noticed that he had, in fact, reached over 50k viewers that stream. “Holy shit... That’s amazing.”

“It is it is! Dude, I’m so proud of how far you’ve come, honestly. I know sometimes you feel like giving up, but just look at what you’ve been able to accomplish over one year. It’s genuinely impressive.” Sapnap’s supportive words poured through Dream’s ears like honey, making his face light up with joy.

“You’re gonna make me cry, stop.” Dream stated, half-joking. The words genuinely meant a lot to him.

“Oh am I now?” Sapnap cooed. “Cry then, pissbaby.”

Dream put a hand over his heart and jumped back, acting like he was in pain even though his friend couldn’t see him. “Oh! Ouch! That one hurt real good, Nick!” 

“Good.”

“Damn, okay, I see how it is.” Dream clicked back over to Twitch and went up to the search bar. “So what was this George guys’ username again?”

“GeorgeNotFound. I think you’ll like his content, bro.” Sapnap sighed out. “I’ve gotta get going, I have a lunch date to get ready for!”

“You mean the one with your mom?”

“Can it.” Sapnap chuckled out before the sound of the Discord call ending covered it up.

Dream smiled at their playful banter and typed in the information he was just given, deciding to tune into one of George’s currently live streams. His smile quickly faded as the stream started up on his monitor. Dream’s heart dropped into his stomach as he heard the familiar voice of his rooftop companion go through his headphones. His brain did everything in its power to try and mark this as a coincidence until he looked at the bottom left corner of the stream. Dream was met with the face he had confided in many times before.

He was stuck in a trance, doing nothing but staring at the Brits face. He felt as if he had lost all of his vital senses. It seemed as if the carpeted floors had dropped out from beneath him. The only thing left in his mind was the name. George. The fact that his hallucination was real, the fact that he was out there right now, living in this world as his own being and not just a figment of Dream’s imagination stunned him. He felt lost.  
Snapping back into reality, Dream quickly stood up, knocking his chair onto the ground as he turned off the screen that was illuminating the horror on his face. Tripping over a pile of dirty laundry, and his own cat, he ran out of his apartment and up those stairs he knew so well, hoping that his companion - George, would be waiting for him there this early in the day. Still regaining composure from his loss of senses, Dream clenched onto the rusty metal handrails to keep himself from falling as he rushed up the multiple flights of stairs.

He opened up the doors and got immediately blinded by the bright light of the Florida sun reflecting off of the concrete below his feet. He could pay no mind to that though because all he could think about was George. And sure enough, there he was, sitting on the ledge of the building, watching, waiting for some sort of interaction.

“George.” Dream choked out as he was trying to catch his breath. He could see the shock spill down his spine as he moved his head back in a frantic motion, making direct eye contact with Dream.

“What did you just say?”


	3. Find Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream confronts 'George' of his reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo sorry this one took a while for me to get out. Hope ya'll enjoy :)

The concrete was scorching as Dream stood barefoot in front of him. He broke eye contact with George, darting from feature to feature, trying to make out anything that could be of difference to the guy he saw on his monitor screen. He felt as if he was going insane. The sunlight danced in his vision as he made contact with his hallucinations eyes once again, trying to make out what he was thinking. All he saw was the same confusion and fear as he had in his own expression.

“Why..” so many questions danced through his head he couldn’t focus on one to ask. All the who’s, what’s, where’s and when’s.  _ Why _ was he here?  _ How _ was he here? It didn’t make any sense. He never knew this man even existed before he started showing up on his roof. Could his brain not come up with anything else? Was this all just some fucked up trick he came up with to torcher himself? 

The sunlight was suddenly blocked from Dream’s vision. He hadn’t realized he was hunched over, wheezing, gasping for air until he looked up and noticed that the shorter was now taller than him. The worried look on George’s face felt like a joke. It felt like he was mocking himself for being crazy, for seeking comfort from a person that just so happened to be real. Dream quickly reset his spine as best he could and looked down at his mockery.

He started laughing to himself, lifting his hand to his forehead and pushing his hair back. “I’m going fucking insane,” he spoke between nervous laughter. He watched as the shorter shook his head and started opening his mouth to speak. “No, no-no-no. I do not need this right now. I don’t need to be feeding into my own delusions.” He dropped down to a squat, pulling himself closer to his knees and shoving his head between them, shaking it repeatedly, pleading to himself. “Please for the love of God go away. Let this be a dream. Let this all be a dream.”

A hand found itself on his shoulder, and a body found itself next to his own.

“I know this is confusing, and I apologize..” the brunette started, rubbing small circles with his thumb on his shoulder. “But, I can explain some things to you.”

Dream moved away from George’s hand and sat down fully, lifting his feet so only his heels were on the concrete. It was too hot for this.

“What do you mean by some things?” He eventually said after moments of silence between the two. He turned his head to face his companion, who was still in a squatting position. He was relieved that he would get some sort of explanation, but the worry of knowing some, but not all ate away at him worse than knowing nothing.

“I can’t tell you everything, some things you’ll have to figure out on your own,” George said slowly, his worrisome expression evident in his tone. Dream looked away from him with haste, hoping it would make him feel less vulnerable. He could still feel George’s eyes burning into the back of his skull. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” George starts again, this time slower. “But I’m begging you to listen.”

Dream took a second to nod his head as a confirmation for George to continue.

“You weren’t supposed to find me, I was supposed to find you. I can see why this is making you panic, I bet you feel like you’re going insane-”  _ Tell me about it _ . “but since this has happened, I need you to find me.”

“I thought I already did?” Dream asked in confusion, stretching out his long legs and leaning back, his hands burning as he places them against the pavement.

George let out a small chuckle and sat down fully, still facing the blonde. “Technically, yes, but that’s not enough. I need you to reach out to me. Talk to me. The real me.”

_ So he’s aware he’s not real. _ Dream thought to himself as he watched a man, that apparently did not believe in curtains, walk around his apartment living room in the apartments across the street. He was walking back and forth on a phone call. He was smiling, laughing. It must have been someone important. Someone he loved.

Dream rolled his eyes at the other’s happiness. “Why should I trust that? You’re a figment of my imagination, how the hell do I know that this won’t make things worse?” Dream asked, deciding not to hold back his thoughts anymore.

George’s comforting expression dropped into something darker as if he were reminiscing on something. “I can’t…” he started, looking away from Dream and at the man that he had lost focus on moments before. He was off the call now, sitting on his couch looking out the window with joy plastered across his face. It felt like he was looking into a different world compared to the mood that was set outside. The man seemed at peace, content. The room seemed quiet. A horn blared in front of them, causing George to wince slightly and Dream to finally look back over at the brunette. “I really can’t tell you that.” George finally continued after he felt Dream staring. “I wish I could trust me, I do, but I don’t want to mess things up. I don’t want you to decide not to talk to me.”

“You telling me why won’t be a deciding factor in whether or not I want to talk to the real George.” George looked over at him, cocking his head to the side as if asking for him to elaborate. “I already don’t want to. I actually don’t want to hear your voice or see your face again.” The words were harsh and he meant them. He never wanted to even think about the Brit again. After realizing that this was all in his head, the idea of him helping himself out of situations with a random guy he had never seen before sent him on a downward spiral. It made him feel guilty like he didn’t see himself as worthy of helping himself. But George looked hurt, and Dream felt bad.

“I understand why you feel this way. This is why you weren’t supposed to know about me first, but listen if you don’t do this-” George cut himself off, shaking his head. “I still can’t tell you, but you have to take my word, please.” Dream chuckled slightly and furrowed his eyebrows in question. The way George worded it made it sound like his life was on the line.

Cars driving by and people talking on the streets filled their silence. Dream knew that he was going to out of sheer curiosity on whether or not real George was like dream George, but he didn’t want to admit this to himself just yet. He looked over at the okra some people had planted earlier in the Summer. It looked healthy, growing tall and muscular. His neighbours always shared some of their harvests with him for fresh home-cooked meals, so he was excited to see this.

_ Maybe,  _ he thought  _ maybe if I comply with him, my head will be cleared. Maybe I’ll never have to come up here for comfort again. _ Dream regained focus. “Okay.”

The sudden sound coming from the individual next to George startled him back to reality. “What?”

“I said okay. I’ll reach out to the real you if that’ll clear you from my conscious.” He could see George’s expression falter slightly, but it quickly lit up again into a wide smile.

“Trust me, you won’t regret it. I’m sure you’ll be absolutely charmed by me.” George gloated, pulling his knees to his chest and standing up quickly, making him trip backward. He regained balance and held out a hand for Dream to grab. “Just promise me you won’t do anything rash.” His tone was changed from excitement to such sincerity that it scared Dream.

He grabbed his hand and was pulled upward onto his feet. “What do you mean by ‘rash’? It’s not like I’m gonna tell the real you about fake you.”

George’s expression didn’t change at his comment, he instead walked to the edge of the building and stood on the edge. “You’ll understand what I mean.” He said quietly before jumping into the busy streets of Orlando, disappearing completely from Dream’s sight.

Dream took a second for himself before wiping off his hoodie of loose rocks and opening the door to the building. He was still in shock, but he did feel a sense of calm after the conversation. Taking one last look back, he set foot down the multiple flights of stairs and the long hallway between him and his apartment.

He opened his unlocked door to a meowing Patches rubbing against his calves making him realize that he had yet to feed her that day. Quick apologies left his lips as he picked her up and brought her to the kitchen, setting her on the counter next to her empty food bowl. He danced over to the pantry, quickly grabbing a can of wet cat food opening it, and mixing it with some regular dry food. He forced his head away from it as he poured the mixture into her bowl to avoid the smell.

He walked over to the sink to rinse out the can so he could recycle it but forgot what he was doing as his mind was taken over by thoughts of George. A loud clang was heard as the can was dropped into the sink and Dream rushed over to his room and sat down at his desk and stared at his monitor as he fired up his computer. He left the door slightly ajar just in case Patches wanted to pop in for a visit.

When his computer turned on after a few seconds, he turned on his monitor and went to Instagram, looking up the name he feared most but also the one he was most endured by. When he finally got his username typed out after multiple spelling mistakes, he noticed something. George was already following him. He watched as the blue follow back button turned into a black message button. He hovered over it with his mouse for a second, rethinking whether or not he should do this and if he is going to, then what he should say. But his hands had different ideas than himself, and before he knew it he had clicked on the button and was typing out a message to him.

  
_ How would you feel about coding for a group server with me? _


End file.
